I am an evil giraffe. Who no longer blogs about politics.

Oops. In its way, it’s very much a baby step, but it’s beginning to dawn on Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz that 2014 is getting closer and closer – and with it comes a regulatory regime that includes health care mandates that are going to put “too great” a pressure on small businesses. This might even be a principled position of Schultz: I assumed at first that he’s worried about how Starbucks franchises would get hammered by increased health care costs, but it turns out that Starbucks doesn’t actually have franchises*. Which means that Schultz could solve the whole problem personally by having Starbucks apply for a waiver.